"giving up on the team" which to be honest, this years team was the worst I have ever seen and was hard to watch, any different than those of you that were openly calling for our football coach to get fired midseason then hoping we lose the bowl game to seal his fate?

The difference I see is that instead of openly bashing this team, that set themselves up to be bashed all season (save the last month), he simply chose to not write about them. I say props to him for holding back the public display of disapproval every game for the team.

Unsurpisingly, I agree w/ C of Yost. Brian doesn't come of as someone I would happily cooperate with due to his penchant for giving up and losing hope. He's so utterly sensitive. As a matter of fact, he also got into it with Stephen Nesbitt on twitter. He acts like a complete child.

Because saying he doesn't want to write about a team == losing hope and being a whiny person.

And my gawd, he disagreed with someone else on twitter! Hide the children and close the hatches, the world is about to end!

I don't agree with Brian on everything - I think he holds a more pessimistic view on the teams during a season than I would - but the fact that anyone is arguing an 18-19-3 team (that was 10-18-2 before a late-season hot streak) is somehow redemptive because they lost in the finals of a tournament completely ignores the fact they had no business even getting that far.

Normally I when I see these threads I think to myself that if I wanted to follow twitter, I would follow twitter, and then the OP posts some great drama! Does this mean I should create a twitter account? What's a guy to do?

I'm sorry, but what's there to be positive about? This is the worst Michigan hockey team since I was a toddler. Sure they made a decent attempt at salvaging the season, but when, by all accounts, you underachieved and did not bring effort for a significant portion of the season, I would say you're not exactly begging for positive reviews.

Everyone is just frustrated that the season had such a disappointing outcome. You are allowed to be a fan and be upset with the object of your fandom. Saying otherwise is like saying that you can't love your spouse if you're occasionally upset with them.

I seriously hate arguments over "true fandom" and CoY is using just that type of argument here.

If you can become a hero (Novak, Hunwick), you can become a villain. I'm willing to say that there's a limit here, but I don't think we should be in the habbit of never saying anything critical of a college athelete. As far as the 'disease' comment, that's probably toeing the line, but not wholly unacceptable.

Sorry, man, but this is my only account (IP access record would confirm this). I only downvote people when they write something I disagree with (and if they come up with a valid argument, I even upvote them (e.g. Owl)) -- and in general I'd guess that 90% of my moderation is positive, not downvotes.

Hate to tell it to you, but you accumulate the downvotes because of your trip to Bolivia and your bigotry. Once the old system comes back, you'll see that you most likely are getting dozens of downvotes -- the current system just places a floor at -1, so you have no idea how many (or how little) downvotes you're getting.

Weren't you sent to Bolivia because you made some ignorant statements connecting Arizona, immigrants, etc.? That's the definition of bigotry, and that's why you couldn't post threads for a while. FYI I haven't downvoted any of your posts in this series of responses, scout's honor.

You are a complete disgrace of a Michigan fan and epitomize why people like me stay the hell away from Yost. You're not important enough to spend any time looking into this, but I doubt very much such a hateful bigot as yourself ever attended here. They really should ban your ass from campus. Now go talk more shit on twitter and get yourself fired.

I don't think I've ever seen someone so concerned with imaginary numbers as much as you are. Who gives a fuck if you're downvoted or not? Does it take away from your ability to post? No. Does it hurt you in any way? No. Does it prevent people from seeing your opinions? No. Does it take away some of the all important MGoPoints? No.

You're just bitching and whining about an imaginary number

To steal a line from OMG Shirtless, "If I could, I would neg myself every post because it's funny that some people take it seriously."

And seriously? Accusing someone of having 3 accounts, just to neg you? Does it get any more MGoEgotistical than that?

As some who totally fights with his spouse, I agree. And this year's hockey season was pretty pathetic. Why is it that Michigan fans are allowed to be jubilant when our teams do well, but we aren't true fans if we're upset when they don't?

Wanna know why I'm not pissed about the season? I honestly stopped watching it less than halfway through. So maybe I'm a fair-weather M hockey fan.

To keep the analogy alive, Brian is at least still fighting with his spouse. I've stopped fighting because I stopped caring, which is far worse.

I understand CoY's stance. They're the student section. They support the team blindly, as they should. As a former serious Maize Rage member, I do the same for basketball.

But it doesn't mean the season wasn't a failure. It was.

Just like I can admit the 2010 basketball season was a failure while still supporting the players, CoY should be able to just support the players and accept that there will be (rightfully) criticism of the season.

Winning would have been great. Losing means no NCAA Tournament, incredible streak ended.

If Hoke can call an 11-2 season a failure due to no Big Ten Championship, then this hockey season was certainly a failure. If anything, I would object to Brian's saying "The scarlet F is branded in this team." I would only say the season was a failure, not the team.

Putting them down like what? Also, I think there's a difference between 2010's mediocre (by UM standards) talent making a run and 2012-13's team full of future NHL'ers giving away half the season.

A: I don't think Brian was overtly negative, or at least not personally demeaning.

B: I don't think we should form opinions based on what we think Brian would have posted had we somehow pulled a miracle upset of Notre Dame.

Again, it's the worst team in a very, very long time. That's by objective standards. Thanks for the kids that worked their asses off and especially thanks to the seniors. However, they'll be the first to tell you that their season was shit.

The Children of Yost like to think they're the student section. Some of them may even be students.

But the more and more they try to subjectively declare who is and isn't a true fan, the more and more they use their Twitter feed to declare beefs with individuals and groups within their own fanbase, the more and more I begin to think the CoY don't speak for anybody but the shadowy people with the password.

And, honestly, given the fact many of their staunchest defenders around here have spent at least one stint in Bolivia, I'm inclined to appreciate Brian's contributions to his own blog and his decade and a half of institutional memory around this program more than their constant childish backbiting and negativity.

Some of them are no longer students, but still sit in the student section. I'd hesitate to call them "shadowy," though- they seem like nice enough people in person. They do organize the flag stuff, which is pretty cool.

Don't pretend like the COY initiated this out of no where, though. I don't think they should have responded, but Brain basically called them (and others) out for not being more negative, which must be weird and threatening from the perspective of a (mostly) student fan group.

I guess you can say Brian "basically called [CoY] out." I sure as hell wouldn't make that argument. The argument I would make is that Brian thinks people are being too positive about a team that shit the bed for 85% of the year because they almost salvaged it.

Note that Brian mentioned nobody in particular and that CoY responded defensively directly at Brian.

the forced niceness on various Michigan hockey twitter feeds is getting grating.

I am not sure I get your "at" anyone comment...It seems Brians tweet is directed at a very small number of candidates. Whether or not they started the @ stuff, the orignial tweet does appear to address CoY within the very narrow group of Michigan hockey twitter feeds...Which they then responded, which is understandable

I don't agree with the CoY post. Sure, they played very well in their last 10 games, but a season is more than your last 10 games. This is like me saying that how awesome it was that we scored 28 points in the fourth quarter to lose by only 2, and how awesome is that because 28 points in one quarter is great!

Finishing the season 8-1-1 would be great if they were doing well before that. Then, we'd be bummed that they didn't win the CCHA but we'd be gearing up for a high seed in the tourney. Instead, the hockey season ended before the basketball season.

I'm certainly not one of those fans who tear down players and attack them as if they're 30 year old professionals making millions of dollars, but I'm not opposed to being let down and complaining about it when your team sucks.

A big reason why M sports is so great is the passion of the fanbase. That passion can cut both ways, as it should.

Yep, that was me. I posted tweets saying exactly what you screenshotted back then. What's your point? Get over it. You bring that up as if it has something to do with the topic of this thread.

You not only post that consistently on threads like it's some kind of incriminating evidence of me, but you also go back and post dumb things like like it's some kind of incriminating evidence with Professor X in on the front page post.

You must have some kind of folder on your computer entitled: "Incriminating Evidence of MGoBloggers".

You are sooo right! Marriage counselors often say the opposite of love is not anger but, apathy. Hence, getting into a spitting match over the object of ones love can actually be a healthy sign they still care.....maybe even a lot!

Eh. The Children of Yost are a fan group, like Maize Rage. They ought to be defensive over the team, and Rage-Quit is apt for what went on here. I think if Brian is going to have credibility when he heaps praise on a team for effort (e.g. the 2010-11 team) he has to be equally honest about its apparent lack. Two different takes from two different purposed organizations.

Please don't compare the two groups. COY chose not to be a student group because they didn't want to deal with the oversight from the University that comes with that. I was hanging out with the people with the Maize Rage twitter password when I saw this and the immediate reaction was "getting into a fight with the largest Michigan sports blog is really stupd." I guarantee that if the equivalent happened to basketball, the current leadership of the Maize Rage would have handled it differently.

"Going through what we did for five years … it's hard to put into words truly what it means and truly what we've been through," Molk said Monday night at the Laurel Manor. "Because frankly, I don't think there's many people in this room or in this country that understand. Unless you've been a fifth-year senior here, you don't know. You didn't live it you didn't feel it, you didn't see the pain, you didn't hear the anguish, you didn't hear the hate."

Take that, guy I threw an empty water bottle at after the Toledo game. You probably think Demanding Excellence is what got Michigan back on track. I hate you so much.

“I’m really proud of the way they picked themselves up. … I never brought up the streak. I never brought it up once. Did we deserve to get there? No, we didn’t do enough. But this team came pretty close. I told them they don’t have anything to hang their heads about.

“Let’s face it; sooner or later, that streak is going to get broken. You just can’t keep going to the tournament every year. They don’t give that thing away.”

The opening volleys of the Great Michigan Hockey Civil War of 2013 will go down in history, to be analyzed by generations of students, psychologists, and historians alike. My hope is that both sides will now strive to re-create the aesthetic wonder of Civil War-era facial hair as they sally forth 'neath flags unfurled.

Children of Yost are correct IMO. Seriously though what's the water bottle incident? Really sick of hearing the bitching about the hockey team. they gave us 22 straight years of magic, and nearly found enough magic to make it an UNREAL 23rd straight tourney trip, but couldn't quite win TEN IN A ROW to achieve it. The fact that they won 9 games in a row when they needed to tells me a lot more about this team than the fact that they mailed in games early in the year. It's all about how you finish, and their run was unbelievable and something to be very proud of. Those who support the team and the players, can't wait to see you back next year at yost to cheer the guys on. On the other hand, to those who gave up and whined about the performance of a bunch of teenagers and early 20's aged kids--to those who complain about narrowly missing the tournament after getting there for 22 years--and to those who talked shit about things they have no clue about, such as player's attitudes and coaching decisions, please stay home next year while the Team starts the new streak. Go Blue!

"I stooped to pick up whatever flingable bit of detritus I could find, seized upon an empty water bottle, and chucked it at the booer. I missed,* lightly damaging an older man a row behind him. But I did get his attention. And the old guy looked like he was on The Other Side, so eff him."

Brian's dropping of hockey coverage was lame as hell... to come back after months of silence, totally ignoring what was nearly a miracle run in the process, acting all petulant is kind of pathetic. And the bottle throwing thing... like, yes it's old news but still. It was a low point for him and he put it out there and should therefore suffer the consequences of publicizing such a moronic story.

Meh. If tossing an empty water bottle at someone booing Michigan athletes is a low point, what do you call it when frat brahs demand you give them your football seats when they arrive in the third quarter, dump liquor on you, and start pushing and swinging?

Really, the water bottle thing was funny, real, and something 99% of us have experienced in some way if you've attended Michigan football games and especially if you've been in any B10 student section.

I agree with your very first statement and I think that Brian gets a little too emotionally vested in the teams success. Understood that this is fan as well as blog-success issue.

It must be tough to analyze/report on a team that is performing poorly, but he really has should do it and not come off so "fair-weathery." I am sure having a 5-hour enema would be more fun, but he did choose to have a Michigan sports blog and sometimes needs to emotionally divest himself a little and try to analyze the things that are going wrong with various poor-preforming teams when they happen.

one group of fans diasgreeing with another group and therefore saying they are not true fans...total garbage

Michigan Hockey has been a gold standard in the sport over the past 22 years, and with that standard comes expectations. This team failed at every single one of them.

- Did not win the GLI

- Did not win the CCHA regular season

- Did not win the CCHA Tournament

- Did not make the NCAA Tournament/Frozen Four

- Did not win a National Championship

Guys, come on...this season was a debacle that had a little sunshine at the end. Based on the standards that this program has set for itself by past success, this year was a total disaster. They hung up no banners, they accomplished nothing. Admitting this does not make you a bad fan, or a fair weather fan...it makes you a fan that actually pays attention to the program.

Obviously, the season as a whole was not successful. But I think it's ok to be happy that they didn't lie down for an entire season. We had no goalie for 3/4 of the season. A lot of games, multiple soft goals were let in. I never played competitive hockey but I'm sure that its frustrating and discouraging. I came into this season thinking we'd have to fight til the end for an NCAA spot. Preseason ranking was crazy IMO because of our goalie issue.

I honestly think most fans are just happy they had something to cheer about for the hockey team the last month and were hoping a team that was dead in the water could somehow resurrect itself. Yes, they put themselves in that position but I think the play the last month should be praised. No reason to dwell on the past other than to remind yourself that you can't expect to win anything when you don't wake up til the last second. But I'd rather the team and fans focus on what we did right toward the end than what we did wrong earlier in the season

I am glad they didn't bend over and just mail it in. It was nice seeing them play with a little pride for a change. However, I think people are feeling too proud over a run that really didn't do anything other than give us watchable hockey for a month. Sure it was nice, but if you combine that with the entire season, it was not nearly enough (for me at least).

My comments are more towards people who are taking shots at guys like Brian and others who feel that this season was a failure and that we are not true fans, etc.

Also, sure the team should focus on all the good at the end, blah blah blah. We aren't the team, I was a paying customer for a few of the games this season...and that was the most of my involvement. I don't have to sit here and only think of the positive as some sort of silver lining because in the end, my view of this program is that they should be winning championships. They won't every year, I don't expect that...but those are the standards of this program established by those who have worn the jersey, and when they don't accomplish raisining banners, it is a failure. I think it is just as wrong to be blindly positive by the end streak and ignore the failures.

I don't think considering the season a failure makes one a bad fan. But you insinuated that those that were proud of how we finished were not following as closely. You were just doing what you were criticizing others of doing. I was born in 89 so all I can remember of UM Hockey is success. I expet us to win championships too because we have great talent and a great coaching staff. This season was a big disappointment. But I can still be proud of how the guys ended it by finally playing to their potential. And I think it's important that fans see at least a slight silver lining b/c if they don't, they have a poor outlook on next season which means less ticket sales, less of a home ice advantage and less money for the AD. JMO

my bad lol. Alright let me rephrase it then (I am trying to not sound like an ass here): I don't think anyone in this is being a bad fan unless you are directly calling someone else a bad fan.

In terms of being proud of how the season ended, I think people are being too proud of it. Sure, be kind of glad they did not roll over and played with a pulse...but I think that says all that hs to be said about this season and why I think the good feelings should really be toned down. This team had the talent all year and drastically underacheived and decided to play how they were supposed too and able too at the end. Like I said before, I am fine with how they played and happy that they did not roll over and showed a pule, etc. But I also believe that this should seriously be tempored in the context of the entire season. I believe that you can't seperate the first 3/4ths or the last 1/4th like it seems people on both sides are doing right now. If I did not make that point clear originally, that is my mistake (because judging by your responses I didn't and that is my fault)

Also, people aren't going to abandon the hockey program because of one bad year. It happens, but nothing too crazy like a scandal or anything caused this. Calling this season what it was is not going to hurt us next year from a support perspective. If anything, Basketball's success is going to hurt fan support (in terms of the choice between the two) and attendence of hockey games more than anything else. Most people can't spend money on both and Basketball is the new hottness.

Ticket sales generally go down after a bad season. I never said people will abandon it, but for some this past season might be the tipping point for those on the fence for season tickets. The diehards will be there year in and year out. But not everyone is a diehard. It probably won't be significant drop, but I am hoping there is no drop at all.

Finishing the season 8-1-1 isn't that miraculous, it's just what good teams do. UMass Lowell finished their season 12-1. Notre Dame finished their season 9-1-3. Minnesota finished 6-2-1. Wisconsin finished their season 10-2-0. The fact that 3 of those teams got #1 seeds and we were barely even a TUC lets you know how awful the rest of season was.

The team could have taken two very different paths at the end of the season. The team could have folded its tents and nobody would have been surprised. However, the team decided to take the season at heart and not go out like complete punks. We can find some positive in this season, especially with the end and the emergence of Racine as a decent goaltender.

This season was definitely a failure for which the team deserves criticism for. True enough, the streak was never going to last forever, but we've had less talent than we did this year and won the conference; these guys just couldn't learn to play like a team until they dug themselves into a hole just a little too deep to get out of. Injuries didn't help, but they still should have been good enough to at least be more competitive than they were.

BUT, there is a difference between being critical of the team and being a fairweather whiner. Completely ceasing all hockey coverage falls into the latter. That isn't legitimate criticism, it's completely turning your back on the team because they aren't living up to their collective draft statuses, and I think it is unbecoming of the largest Michigan sports blog, and particularly one that regularly covers hockey. The fact Brian came out and said he wasn't covering hockey because he was mad at how they were doing is even sadder. I can understand being less motivated to keep up given the cisrumstances, but just admitting you're rage quitting and mad you bought season tickets is pathetic.

frankly, the fact that this blog suddenly discovered basketball a couple of years ago already suggested the fairweather thing. This has basically proven it... the only sport that will ever get coverage here come what may is football.

this is unfair- Brian hosted liveblogs for M basketball and infamously ended them when they got down 20+. He psoted about notable games and coaching searches and recruiting.

continuous hoops writing didn't generate clicks and was too painful to continue. interest will wax and wane for sports based on success. please tell me about your unwavering attention to Detroit baseball in the month of Sept from 1989-2005

I've blogged/written about Michigan hoops for awhile now and I can attest to this. Not even close to the same level as football and especially not recruiting. It's something that most people just started caring about again.

BUT, there is a difference between being critical of the team and being a fairweather whiner. Completely ceasing all hockey coverage falls into the latter.

That's a bit of a stretch for a guy that goes to every Michigan hockey game. So he decided to not write about the worst Michigan team in many of our lifetimes. It doesn't make him fairweather. If anything it makes him realistic and a smart business operator to divert his attention to the basketball team and things like "SeedWatch" and "B10 Power Rankings of Power"

This is still the worst hockey team in a long time, so if you have given up on writing about them, you don't need to write about how the season ended or call out others. Brian comes off as petulant and a bit of a baby as he seems to be writing the recap as a response to people being ok with how the team finished.

For the record, this isn't the first time he's wrote about hockey since he said he was done with regular recaps.

In fact, I believe he wrote a recap of the Western series and he's still included big news in UVs.

Because he decided to not spend time re-capping games in detail of the not-headline-sport and then wrote a writeup on the end of the season makes him petulent? I think some people just like finding flaws.

Also, remember there's a reason Brian gives his press passes to Heiko and Ace. He goes out of his way to stay a fan and not be a member of the press/beat writer. He's a blog writer. He has no obligation to do regular columns, especially when regular columns are becoming "another shitty effort."

I don't have a dog in this fight. [Brian] does [tweets] completely free. No revenue from site clicks, no ads, nothing to make him money. Everything he does is completely free. He does it because he enjoys it. So, like I said, I don't have a dog in this fight. I appreciate that [Brian] shares stuff for free and it's not just reposting VIP stuff. So, even though I don't have a dog in this fight, I also won't let you just make up lies.